HP6: Acute toxicity
Waste that can cause severe or fatal effects from a single exposure, by swallowing, skin contact or breathing it in.
What HP6 means
HP6 covers waste that can poison someone from a single exposure: by swallowing it, through the skin, or by breathing it in. The limits depend on how toxic the substances are, and substances in the same category are added together.
The HP6 thresholds
| Route and category | Makes the waste HP6 |
|---|---|
| Swallowed, category 1 (H300) | 0.1% or more |
| Swallowed, category 2 (H300) | 0.25% or more |
| Swallowed, category 3 (H301) | 5% or more |
| Swallowed, category 4 (H302) | 25% or more |
| Skin contact, category 1 (H310) | 0.25% or more |
| Skin contact, category 2 (H310) | 2.5% or more |
| Skin contact, category 3 (H311) | 15% or more |
| Skin contact, category 4 (H312) | 55% or more |
| Breathed in, category 1 (H330) | 0.1% or more |
| Breathed in, category 2 (H330) | 0.5% or more |
| Breathed in, category 3 (H331) | 3.5% or more |
| Breathed in, category 4 (H332) | 22.5% or more |
Each limit is the total of all substances in that category. A substance below its cut-off is left out of the total: 0.1% for H300, H301, H310, H311, H330 and H331, and 1% for H302, H312 and H332.
Where you're likely to meet it
- Cytotoxic and cytostatic medicines, which GOV.UK defines as acutely toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction (codes 18 01 08*, 18 02 07* and 20 01 31*).
What it changes when the waste moves
A waste needs only one hazardous property to be hazardous waste. In England and Wales it then moves on a hazardous waste consignment note in place of a waste transfer note, and the note goes with the load to the site that receives it.
On Digital Waste Tracking, the site that receives a hazardous load records its HP codes alongside the EWC code (the six-digit code from the List of Wastes that says what a waste is).
Sources
- WM3: Waste classification technical guidance (v1.2.GB): Appendix C6, pages C23 to C26
- GOV.UK: Healthcare and related wastes, how to classify
- Annex III to the Waste Framework Directive (HP1 to HP15)
- GOV.UK: Hazardous waste consignment notes
- The Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026: the paragraphs on hazardous properties and POPs, 15 and 16
This page explains the rules. Check the waste itself against WM3 before it moves.
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CarrierNote is on the GOV.UK software provider list, connected to DEFRA's Digital Waste Tracking service. Receiving sites are in scope from October 2026 and carriers from October 2027, and you can be recording to DEFRA's standard from your first load, whenever you start.